SIMS Alumni Network

Keeping us connectedKeeping us connected

Goals

Accomplish its original mission

1. Maintain contact with SIMS alumni– Inform them of SIMS news and events– Get support from SIMS alumni

2. Maintain contact among SIMS alumni– Create social network and support– Make SIMS Alumni site a gathering place– Fulfill goal number 1

Discovery

Interviews:• 4 alumni (2 current SIMS, 2 old school)• 2 administrative staffAfter interviews with SIMS alumni…• Appearance not appealing and contents

static• Information seems out of date and not very

well organized• Most importantly, alumni want to use this site

for social network

Home SIMS Alumni Network (Screen shot)

Find Alumni SIMS Alumni Network (Screen shot)

News and Events topSIMS Alumni Network (Screen shot)

News and Events bottom SIMS Alumni Network (Screen shot)

Personas

• Maggie Stevens– 55 years old, has worked in California

Digital Library (CDL) for 20 years – graduated in 1985 with a Ph.D. degree in

Library Science– not a heavy computer user

– actively in touch with a small group of alumni, primarily contact each other via email and telephone

Personas

• Maggie’s important tasks– publish academic information– search for alumni– read SIMS news and events

Personas

• Amit Bansal– graduated in 2001– currently working for Oracle as a

Database Engineer– very techno-savvy.

– believes in the power of networking, loves to hear news regarding his old classmates and friends.

Personas

• Amit’s important tasks– publish professional information– search for alumni– view and post news and events

Personas

• Jia Ming Tsai– joined the staff at SIMS as the new Director

of Alumni Relations in the fall last year – very excited about improving alumni relations

at SIMS– believes the SIMS alumni website will be an

important venue for strengthening alumni relations

Personas

• Ming’s important tasks– search for alumni– read and post SIMS events and news

Personas

• Gina Ramos– graduated in 2004 with a Master’s

degree – worked as a research assistant at a

biotech company

– looking forward to finding a career that blends her biology background and HCI experience

Personas

• Gina’s important tasks– publish professional information– search for alumni– search for job opportunities

Current Design and Changes from Low-fi

• Generally:– Now more focused on the alumni users vs. the

administrative users.

• Specifically:– Reorganized information on the site.– Eliminated categories in “News and Events”– Made sections directly accessible– Vocabulary and Search Changes– Miscellaneous

1. Reorganized information

News & Events Bulletin Board My Home

Sims events

Social Networking

About Jobs

Misc. announcements

Alumni News

To Career

Sims Happenings

Read and Post

2. Elimination of categories

3. Interactive section directly accessible

4. Vocabulary and Searches

• Class notes or life updates or diary updates or alumni notes or Alumni News …what do we call it? Just give examples!

• Added an “Advanced Search”

5. Miscellaneous

• “Email all selected records” was confusing.

• Added some indication of required fields.

• Removed view of all the different 'tabs' until after user logs in.

Demo ofInteractive Prototype

Lessons Learned

• Who’s the boss?– ALWAYS the users…Nielson– Overly sensitive to admin users– New design similar to original design

• Vocabulary problem– Very difficult! – Ex: Bulletin board, forum, post & read– Need card sorting and more testing

• Categories overlap– Job postings, searches, bulletin board– Use “Also see”

Questions?

Thank you!

Interaction FlowchartLogin

Valid username & password?

Sign-up

No

My Home

Valid username & password?

Yes

SIMS Happenings

Post and read Search

Give to SIMS

Career

Profile

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